Did generous friends and family give me many tiki gifts this Christmas? Yes. Yes they did.

Many thanks to my cousins Kim and Tom for my very own tiki bar sign! And to my Aunt Karen for Tiki Quest, which is basically hardcore tiki collector Duke Carter showing off the massive collection of mugs, statuettes, and related paraphernalia he and his wife Amy have accumulated.

Tiki Road Trip, a gift from my Aunt Kerry (who also joined the party at the Tiki Lounge in last week’s post, is an essential reference work. I was first introduced to it by my fellow cartoonist and tiki enthusiast Tom Gammill, who used it in a tiki tour of L.A. I should share on this blog sometime. James Teitelbaum appears to have gone to every major city in the U.S. and Canada, cracked open the phone book, and visited every address that looked like it could be a tiki bar. This is not a wise course of action. Sample entry (for Tiki Steak and Sub in Baltimore):

One doesn’t head out to a place with a name like Tiki Steak and Sub prepared to discover the next Hala Kahiki. At the very worst, however, it might be a sandwich shop with some Tikis nailed up on the walls.

If only it was that…

Put succinctly, Tiki Steak and Sub is in a scary building in a scary neighborhood.

Don’t go there.

Also:

We have no evidence of any Tiki, past or present, in Delaware.

Elsewhere, however, Teitelbaum finds tiki aplenty, with loving, detailed reviews of tiki bars, restaurants and other attractions past and present.

But enjoyment of tiki doesn’t require life-threatening cross-country road trips. It can come from something as simple as a three-dollar purchase from the flea market in Lorain Country, Ohio. Behold my husband Andrew’s Christmas gift to me:

This is a great Christmas guy! Look at his round onion head! He has joined my tiki army and is serving admirably.

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One response to “Tiki Christmas”

Found a link to the alleged location of Tiki Steak & Sub in Baltimore. Go ahead to check the streetview – I dare ya. BTW, the walls that look like stone are a common Baltimore facade material called formstone – generally a sign of a working class neighborhood or, in this case, a former working class neighborhood.